As hard as you try to protect your valuable information with
strong passwords and anti-doxing measures, there's nothing you can
really do when someone else gives up your goods. And that is the
case with the recent Global Payments breach.

Global Payments is just one of the middlemen in
charge of processing credit, debit and gift card payments between
consumers, banks and merchants. On Friday, it was revealed that 1.5 million card numbers from
Visa, MasterCard and other major credit card holders were hacked.
Actually, the unauthorized intrusion into Global Payments servers
occurred between January 21st and February
25th, but we are just now getting wind of it.

Even if you've never heard of Global Payments, you are still at
risk.

Should you worry?

Yes. Even though your credit card number might not be compromised
this time, it's bound to happen again, regardless of what
security measures are in place. With this recent hack, only the
credit card numbers and expiration dates were stolen, claims Global Security, with no
names, addresses, or Social Security numbers taken. But that's
all that's needed to create fraudulent credit cards.

Was your credit card number stolen?

Probably not. The breach was reportedly isolated to just North
America, and there are currently over 1 billion credit and debit
card numbers in circulation in the United States. So, you do the
math. But if you've used your card in New York City recently,
you're at higher risk apparently.

What should you do if you suspect yours stolen?

Global Payments claims the breach is now contained and that
specific banks have been or are being contacted. If your card
number was one of the ones hijacked, then your bank will, if they
haven't already, contact you. Visa and MasterCard have already
sent out notices to those who have may
have been affected, informing them of the possible risk. Bank of America said that
they're monitoring customer accounts closely and will notify
customers if necessary.

But you don't have to wait. If you're worried about your data
being stolen, contact your bank to see if they have any
information about your account being safe or infected. Most
companies have a toll-free number you can call on the back of
your card, where you can get information and report your card
stolen.

If your credit or debit card was used fraudulently, under federal
law, your liability is only fifty dollars, though most card
issuers have $0 consumer fraud liability policies, including
MasterCard, American Express, Visa, and Discover. In response to
this security breach, Visa issued this response:

"It's important for U.S. Visa consumer cardholders to know they
are protected against fraudulent purchases with Visa's zero
liability fraud protection policy, which exceeds federal
safeguards. As always, Visa encourages cardholders to regularly
monitor their accounts and to notify their issuing financial
institution promptly of any unusual activity."

Tips for keeping your cards safe.

Monitor your transactions, checking for unauthorized
transactions. Do not rely solely on paper statements—even online
statements. The best way to monitor recent usage is by calling
the hotline on the back of your card or checking your recent
activity online.

Don't want to keep track of it yourself? Try out monitoring
services like BillGuard or one offered by your card
issuer. You might even get it for free from them if you're one of
the ones affected by this hack.

Notice suspicious activity? Contact your financial
institution immediately to report your card lost or stolen. Also,
you can go a step further and place a fraud alert on your
personal credit report by contacting each credit bureau
individually, i.e. TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.

Global Payments has released some of their own tips related
directly to this incident. You can check those out right here.

This security breach was a big enough deal for Visa to back away
from Global Payments, with Visa yanking its seal of approval of
them. So, if you're a Visa card holder, rest assured they will
not put up with this. But what about the rest of the card
companies? I don't know. But I'm glad I used Visa.